Telephone tone machine



T. G. MEINEMA TELEPHONE TONE MACHINE Filed March 5, 1927 ml INVENTOI;

F1 6 THOMAS G. MEINEMA 4 TTOR/VE Y Patented S ept. 13, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS G. IEINEKA, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE HOLTZER-CABOT ELECTRIC 00., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

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Application filed larch 5, 1927. Serial No. 172,982.

This invention is a continuation in part of my previously filed application Serial No. 17 ,014, filed March 20th, 1925, for a telephone tone machine, and relates to an apparatus or machine for furnishing tone currents for use in a telephone exchange system. In a telephone exc ange tone currents are used for various purposes. For example there is a busy back and dont answer, dial tone, trouble tone, howler tone, and tones for cable testing the latter being usually referred to as tone test current. These various audible tones or signals may be thus transmitted to a subscriber, or an inspector or lineman using or testing the telephone line.

Heretofore, it has been the custom to provide preferably, on the end of the shaft of the ringing machine, that is the machine which is used for supplying current for ringing the telephone bells, a commutator consistin of quite a number of segments and feeding tlie exchange battery current through this high frequency commutator, and then through a relatively high winding of an induction coil which has an additional relatively low resistance winding having one end connected to the exchange battery and the other to a slow speed commutator, ordinarily referred to as the busy-back and dont aaswer interrupters; the busy-back interrupter being connected to a series of jacks usually on the trunk board of the telephone exchange, while the dont answer interrupter is connected to another series of jacks on the same board, as diagrammatically illustrated in Dean Patent 818,527 of April 24, 1906.

In the past, a connection is sometimes taken from the same induction coil winding, used in connection with the busy-back and dont answer interrupters, directly through a suitable test plug or switch, which may be installed at the wire chiefs desk, or at any other suitable place, such a connection being known as the tone test circuit, which is usually used when a line is in trouble, and it. is desired to put a tone on the sleeve of the jack of the line that is in trouble, to notify any operator in testing the jack, to see if the line is busy, that the line is in trouble.

In order to obtain a much stronger current for the howler tone, which is used for making a subscriber replace his receiver on the hook, when it is inadvertently not returned thereto, or has become accidently pushed off the hook, thereby giving a signal to the operator, it has been the past practice apt to be worn out, andt e collector rings or commutators get dirty, and become pitted from wear and sparking at the brushes, thereby necessitating sandpapering the commutators very frequently in order to keep the quality of the tone somewhere near a uniform scale.

It is therefore the principal object of my invention toprovide a machine in which the various tone currents heretofore referred to are produced without the use of brushes, collector rings, or commutators, and at the same time to provide amachine in which the tone currents generated are steady and uniform.

Another object of my invention is to ro vide a combination in which separate induction coils are not required, thereby simplifying the wiring of the entire combinationr These and other objects will be apparent to one skilled in this art, after a study of the specification taken in connection with the annexed drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic view of one half of my inductor tone machine.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 but showing a machine capable of generating a higher frequency tone current.

Figure 3 is a partial vertical section through either Figures 1 or 2.

Figure 4'is a fragmentary view of a. modified form of construction showing three wingings instead of two as shown in Figure Figure 5 is a further modified form of tone machine showing a plurality of means for generating tone currents of the same or different frequencies.

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating how the induction machine is conwindings of theinductor onl v higher resistance connected change battery nected to the telephone exchange system, the being shown.

Referring nowtothe detai s, wherein like numbers refer to corresponding parts in the various views, 1 illustrates a stator or nonrotatin part of a machine which is preferably uilt up of laminations of suitable qualit of magnetic material, the lammations eing shown particularly in Flgure 3. The stator 1 is provided with a series of pole pieces 2 and 3, which are arranged in pairs spaced'apart as shown more clearly in Fig.3. Between the series of spaced pole pieces 2 and 3, a pair of annular concentrn' cally arranged windings 4 and 5 are rovided and the winding 4 is of consi erably and usually of greater than the winding 5. The

number of turns,

across the exchange winding 4 is connected battery B and is thus winding. Winding 5 has one end preferably to the negative side of the ex- B while the other end 6 is connected to a brush 7 operating on 'a ring 8 of a slow speed interrupter. The ring 8 is connected to a series of segments 9 of a busy-back-commutator 10 which is wired through the brush 11 to a series of busy-back jacks 12 at the switchboard, only one of these jacks being shown. The ring 8 isalso connected to a series of segments 13 of a dont answer commutator 14 on which the brush 15 operates and this brush is connected to a series of dont answer jacks 6 at the switchboard, as shown in the said Dean patent previously referred to, resistance coils 29 and 30 being used in connection with the busy-back and dont answer jacks 12 and 16. A tap 17 is taken from the end 6 of the winding 5 to a switch 18 marked also T. T. S. signifying tone test switch, which may be located at any desired point in the exchange. The slow speed interrupters are preferabl connected to the shaft 19 of the machine through a reducing gear of the proper kind.

While I have shown a certain type of slow speed interrupter I may also use and preferably do use interrupters composed of spring contacts operated by cams. but since this feature is no part of my present invention the older form of interrupter is shown. 1

. The shaft 19 carries a rotor 20, having a series of pole pieces 21 to cooperate with the pole pieces 2 and 3 of the stator, thereby varying the flux through the windings so that a tone is imparted to the winding 5. which tonemay be picked up directly through the switching device connected to a tap or wire'17, for the tone test current as described. The terminal 6 of the coil 5.

is also connected by a brush or contact 7, to

the busy-backand dont answer interrupters as described.

used as an exciting- The howlercurrent maybe obtained in a plurality of ways, one in' particular, being shown in Figures 4 and 6, wherein the winding 22 is such that the howler current is taken direct from the terminal 28 of the coil 22 to the (H. S.) howler switch and. in order to vary the strength of this howler tone current I provide taps 25 and 26 to which :the connection 28 may be switched if desired. I also provide the winding 5 with taps 23 and 24 to which the ends 6 of the wire 17 ma be connected.

he tone test current may be picked up between the points 25 and 27 without the use of the winding 5 leaving the howler current to be taken from the extreme end of the winding 22 or an adjacent ta such as 26. When this construction is used I prefer to make that portion of the winding 22 between the points 27 and 25 of lower resistance than the remainder of the winding 22. When this latter arrangement isused then two windings such as shown in Figures 3 and 5 may be all that is required to provide the necessary tone currents to the exchange.

In some cases in a relatively large exchan e where the requirements are greater.

5. The windings 4 and 5 may be used in the manner already described, or each tone unit may have three windings, as shown in Figure 4. In addition the tone units included within the housing 31 of a single machine :may be constructed to have the same frequency according to Figure 1, or Figure 2.

From what has been said it will be readily understood that the drawing is merely illustrative of my invention, the details of which may be varied over a considerable range without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A tone machine for a telephone switchboard system comprising a stator having a plurality of poles, an exciting winding therefor, at least one tone winding having one end connected to the system battery and the other end leading to a suitable switching point including a subdividing signal apparatus and a rotary inductor cooperating with said stator pole pieces to produce magnetic flux changes therein whereby a tone current is set up in said tone winding.

2. A tonemachine for a telephone switchboard system comprising a stator having a plurality of poles, an exciting winding therefor, connected to the system battery, at least one tone winding having one end connected to the negative end of the system battery and the other and connected at least to a subthe tone machine and a switchlng point and a rotary inductor cooperating with said stator pole pieces to produce magnetic flux changes therein whereby a tone current is set up in said tone winding.

3. A tone machine for a telephone switch board system comprising a stator having a plurality of poles, a single coil exciting winding energized by the telephone system battery at least a single .coil tone winding adjacent said exciting winding adapted to have the system battery current fed therethrough, one end of said tone winding being device interposed between the tone machine and a switching device and a rotary inductor cooperating with said stator pole pieces to produce magnetic flux changes therein whereby a tone current is set upin said tone winding.

4. A tone machine for a telephone switchboard system comprising a stator having a plurality of poles, at least a single coil exciting windin 'of relatively high resistance energized by t e system battery, a single coil tone winding of relatively low resistance adjacent said exciting winding and adapted to have the system battery current fed therethrough one end of said tone winding being connected at least to a subdividing signaling device interposed between the tone machine and a switching device and a rotary inductor cooperating with said stator pole pieces to produce magnetic flux changes therein whereby a tone current is set up in said tone winding.

5. A tone machine for a telephone switchboard system comprising a stator having a plurality of poles arranged in pairs spaced apart around the inner periphery of the stator, at least a pair of coils concentrically arranged with respect to-each other within the annular space between said spaced apart pole pieces, one of said coils being excited from the system battery and another coil being connected to one end of the system battery while the other end is connected to a tone selecting device associated with the tone machine and a rotary inductor having poles to cooperate with said stator poles to produce a tone current in the second mentioned winding.

6. A tone machine for a telephone switchboard system comprising a stator having a plurality of poles, an exciting winding therefor, at least a second winding associated with the exciting winding and adapted to have the system battery current passed therethrough to a tone separator and signailing device having leads adapted to be connected to various switching devices of the switchboard system and a rotor having inductors capable of altering the magnetic flux through said second winding whereby a tone current is set up therein for the purposes described.

7. A howler and auxiliary tone and signalling machine for a telephone system comprising, a stator, a rotor, an exciting wind ing for the stator, a-howler Winding associated with the exciting winding and adapted to have the system battery current passed therethrough to the auxiliary tone and signalling device operated by said rotor and thence to the telephone switchboard as and for the purpose described. v

8. A tone machine for a telephone switchboard system comprising; a stator having a connected at least to a subdividing signaling \plurality of poles, means for setting up magnctic flux in said poles, at least one stationary winding associated with said poles, and having circuit connections with switching devices ofthe switchboard system and a rotor having inductors capable of altering the magnetic .flux through said winding whereby a high pitched tone current is set up therein.

9. A composite tone machine for a'telephone switchboard system comprising; a stator having a plurality of poles, means for setting up magnetic flux in said poles, at least one tone winding associated with said poles, means for selecting from said winding, tone currents of different effective strength and circuit connections leading said tone currents to switching devices of the switchboard system and a rotor having inductors capable of altering the'magnetic flux through said winding whereby said tone currents are set up therein.

10. A composite tone and signalling machine for a telephone switchboard system com rising; a stator, a rotor, an exciting win ing for the stator and means for energizing the same, at least one tone winding associated with the exciting winding and means for supplying current thereto said winding being provided with taps Whereby tone currents for different purposes may be taken therefrom, one of said taps being taken to a signalling device operated by said rotor and thence to the telephone switchboard for the purpose described.

11. A composite tone and signalling machine for a telephone switchboard system comprising; a stator, a rotor an exciting winding for the stator and means for energizing the same, a plurality of tone windings associated with the exciting winding and adapted to have the system battery current passed therethrough, one of said tone windings having connections leading direct to switching devices of the system while another of said tone windings is adapted to be connected to signalling devices operated by said rotor and thence to the telephone switchboard for the purposes described.

12. A composite tone machine for a telephone switchboard system comprising; a

stator having a plurality of poles, means for setting up magnetic flux in sa1d poles, at least one tone winding associated with said poles, a separate source of current adapted to, be passed through the tone winding, means for selecting from said winding, tone currents 0 different effective strength and circuit connections leading said tone currents to switching devices of the switchboard system and a rotor'havin inductors capable of altering the magnetic flux through said winding whereby said tone currents are set up therein.

13. A composite machine for a telephone switchboard system for delivering uniform tone currents of different frequency and of a desired strength comprising; a plurality of closely arranged stators each havin a plurality of poles but difiering in num er, an exciting winding for each stator and means for energizing the same, at least one stationary tone win ng, arran ed adjacent each exciting winding and a apted to be connected to switching devices of the said stem and closely arranged rotors one for each stator having inductors ca able of alterin the magnetic flux throng said tone windings whereby the tone currents are set up therein.

14. A composite machine for a telephone switchboard system for delivering uniform tone currents of different frequency and of a desired strength comprising; a plurality of adjacently arranged stators each having a plurality of poles but difiering in number an exciting .winding for each stator, an

adapted to be excited from the system battery, at least one tone winding arranged adf jacent each exciting winding and connected at one end to the system battery, while the opposite end is ada. ted to be connected to switching devices 0 the said system, and a plurality of rotors, corresponding to the number of stators, arran ed adjacent each other on a common sha and having inductors capable of altering the magnetic flux through said tone windmgs whereby the tone currents are set up therein.

15. A composite machine for a telephone switchboard system for delivering a lurality of tone currents each of a desired strength comprising; a plurality of closely arranged stators each having a plurality of poles, means for setting up magnetic flux in said poles, at least one stationary tone winding associated with each of said stators and adapted to be connected to switching devices of the said system and closely arranged rotors, one for each stator having inductors capable of altering the ma etic flux through said tone windings w ereby the tone currents are set up therein.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature.

THOMAS G. 

